Poverty means nothing if we seek alternate meanings

Here’s a conundrum: Spokane isn't a place that has ever attracted big business. Therefore, Spokane is considered impoverished. However, big business is the reason for poverty, so why bow to it and try to incorporate big business into our area? But, if numbers mean anything, then something has to be done, because Spokane will only breed tragedy for a population ruined by poverty.

According to city-data.com, in 2009, 19.9 percent of the population lived under the poverty line in the city of Spokane, whereas, 12.3 percent of the total population of the state of Washington lived under the poverty line in the same year. That’s a 7.6 percent difference.  

The most unfortunate statistic is 5-year-old females: 43.6 percent lived under the poverty line, the highest rate for any age group in the city. The next highest were 6 to 11-year-old females at another whopping 36.9 percent living under the poverty line. Finally, 36.4 percent of 12 to 14 year old boys lived under the poverty line. These numbers are nearly double the state average for the same age groups.

How is it that we can allow the youngest of our population to live in such conditions? We know that poverty begets poverty, and the formative years of childhood are the most important. Children who go to sleep hungry every night will only learn that the world is an unstable place, and with instability comes the tragic downward spiral of deviance.

Whenever we hear the word “freedom,” in political speeches, we should infer “freedom to be greedy.” It’s nothing more than that. Big business, and those who chair it (the 1 percent), care little for the consequences they have on society at large. But, they’ll tell you that it’s not their concern. Their concern is profit.

How, then, can we go about creating a better community for our children here in Spokane without the help of ushering in an age of big business, because that will only serve to stratify.

When Occupiers go out and protest one question should always be on their mind: what does it mean to be poor, and how do we redefine poverty? Ask always how we can change the way we view and interpret the world around us, that way numbers mean very little. It’s not so much numbers, as it is our perception of the world we live in.

There is more to life than big business, such as true happiness.